“It’s all right,” she said.“You don’t need to leave on my account.”
“Yes, you do,” Jarred contradicted her.
“Going, going,” Justin said.“Nice seeing you, Wayla,” he added while the others waved or nodded at her.
“Come on, guys, let’s leave the cute couple in peace,” Yash teased.Wave stuck her tongue out at him.Yash took one staggering step and fell on his knees in front of her.“Your tongue is sharp and wounds me.Please have mercy!”
Wave took a stern look and tapped her foot.“No,” she said with her best offended glare.
“Wayla—”
“He’s just kidding—”
The others started talking over each other, and Wave quirked a brow at Yash, whose eyes were still twinkling.
“His behavior is unacceptable,” she said and lifted her nose.“Off with his head!”
Yash let out a roar of laughter and sprang back to his feet.“As you wish, my lady,” he said and then promptly provided her with an illusion of his head on a plate.
Daintily, Wave accepted the offer and waved her other hand.“You can go now.”
“Oh, my gods, I think I’m in love,” someone muttered, but Justin herded the group down the street before anything else could happen.Still holding the plate with Yash’s head, with his tongue lolling out and wiggling lightly, Wave turned to meet Jarred’s wide-eyed stare.
“What?”she asked when he still didn’t say anything.
“I—you, uh, right.”
Wave held out the plate.“You want this?”
That seemed to snap Jarred out of his state, and he waved a hand through the illusion, neatly dispersing it.“This might have been a mistake,” he muttered as he guided her inside.
Chapter 8 – Wave
Wavewipedsweatfromher brow and shook her hands.
“You need to think of it like a living or flexible thing that you wrap around yourself,” Jarred repeated.They had been at this for half an hour already, and Wave still couldn’t do what he wanted.
She hadn’t exactly told him that she was already sustaining three layers of different kinds of shields.Her innermost shield contained her siren, the second her stormbringer.The constant suppression of power strained her at times, but she had learned to live with it since they also offered protection.
Ever since moving to Tracthesian Academy, she had developed a habit of pulling up a third layer as soon as she woke up.That was a more generalized barrier, but what Jarred wanted her to do was a specific shield against power surges.
Wave had always learned shielding as a way to hide who and what she was; protection was a secondary benefit.The way Jarred described the shield and its function felt unfamiliar to Wave.She could easily see the benefits and usefulness of such a shield, but no matter how hard she tried, she wasn’t able to get the hang of it.
“Again,” Jarred said.
Wave pulled in a deep breath and, to her utter horror, Jarred moved to her back and wrapped her in his arms.Her back slotted easily against his chest, and he leaned down to talk into her ear.
“You are trying too hard.”He moved his hand to rest on her lower stomach.“Feel it gather here and then let it flow over you.”
Wave tried.Well, she tried not to melt into a puddle as the heat from his hand soaked into her.Oh, heaven and hell, he was so warm.No man had the right to be this hot.Literally.She bit the inside of her cheek to keep from moaning.
“Wayla,” Jarred admonished her.“Focus.”
“I am,” she muttered.
Jarred huffed.“Right.”He tapped a finger against her stomach.“Focus here.”
“I.Am.”This time, Wave gritted it out, and Jarred froze.His laughter started low in his stomach.Wave felt it long before it burst out of his mouth.
